CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
It
was around 4:00 in the morning, when Jaina received the distressing call from
Tenal Ka with the news that Jacen had been arrested.
She
knew her brother was going through a hard time but she had not expected him to
do something this drastic. Though by
the tone of Tenal Ka's voice, Jaina sensed there was more going on than what
her friend was telling her. Tenal Ka
promised she would explain everything once Jaina got down to the city
jail. Jaina had asked her why she
couldn't just tell her over the comm, and Tenal Ka had responded by saying it
was too complicated to explain unless they were face-to-face.
Jaina had quickly rounded up Anakin, Tahiri, and
Zekk. They borrowed one of the Palace's
many landspeeders and rode it to the city jail where Jacen was being held.
Tenal Ka was waiting just inside for them when they
arrived, and the explanation she had in store for Jaina was anything but what
she had expected.
They had thrown him in here almost two hours ago, and
Jacen was still rubbing his wrists in effort to get back the circulation from
when the stun cuffs had been placed on him.
At least the ysalimiri are gone, he thought with
relief.
They probably figured a Jedi surrounded by a force field
wasn't going to cause any trouble.
Still, he was a long way off from being in a good
situation. No one had come in since
they had brought him here, and he wondered if that had been Zeille's plan all
along. Just dump him here and forget
about him. The likeliness of that
happening, though, was extremely small. He knew Tenal Ka would never let that happen.
Jacen heard the door to the cell area open and in walked
one of the guards that had brought him here, followed by Tenal Ka… and
Jaina. He knew by the look on his
sister's face that Tenal Ka had told her everything.
They approached his cell while the guard who had escorted
them in hung back a few feet, just in case anybody decided to cause any
trouble.
Jacen spoke first. "I wish you didn't have to see me like this," he said to the both of
them, through the clear force field of his cell.
"I've seen you look worse," Jaina remarked.
Jacen cringed at hearing the anger in her voice, but he
knew he deserved it.
Tenal Ka sensed the growing tension between the two
siblings and said in a confident voice, "we will get you out of here,"
"It's not that not simple," Jacen said shaking his head,
"Zeille's not just going to have a sudden change of heart and let me walk out
of here. He can make these charges
against me stick, can't he?"
Tenal Ka said nothing. They had both seen the holo cam in Zeille's hands, and she had a feeling
that Zeille was showing his proof to her grandmother at this very moment. She closed her eyes briefly. It was only a matter of time before her
parents found out. She could picture
the look of disappointment on her mother and father's faces, but she shoved
that image aside. At the moment, she
had a more immediate problem to take care of.
"What will happen to Jacen if he's convicted?" Jaina asked her friend.
"He could face life imprisonment," she said in a low
voice looking directly at Jacen.
Jacen felt his breath catch in his throat at the mention
of that. He needed to sit down. A cot was the only thing in his cell, so he
went over and sat down on it.
Jaina regarded her brother for a moment then turned back
to Tenal Ka. "What's going to happen to
you?"
"Most likely, the public humiliation of myself and my
family, and the possibility of losing my title as princess and heir to the
throne," she answered coolly, but both Jacen and Jaina could sense she was
anything but calm.
"They can't do that," Jacen protested.
"Ta'a Chume has the power to do whatever she deems necessary
for the good of the Hapan people," Tenal Ka explained.
"But what about your father – " Jaina began.
"There is only so much he can do. My grandmother is still very influential in
the Hapan Court."
It was at that moment when both Tenal Ka and Jacen fully
comprehended the extent of the consequences that their actions had brought
on. Their lives would never be the same
again.
"Look, we're going to get you out of here," Jaina said to
her brother, not accepting defeat, " we'll go straight to the Hapan Court if we
have to."
"Jaina," Jacen began, knowing exactly what ideas were
rolling around in his sister's head, "don't get yourself into trouble because
of the mistakes Tenal Ka and I have made,"
"You're right. This mess is both of your faults. If you had just been honest about how you
really felt about each other from the beginning none of this would have
happened. Instead, you both pretended
that those feelings didn't exist. Everybody else knew you two were meant to be together, but you two had
to find that out for yourselves, no one else could do it for you."
"Friend Jaina, I am sorry that we lied to you," Tenal Ka
said ashamed.
"We just didn't want you to get involved," Jacen added.
"Newsflash Jacen, I am involved,"
"Jaina, I know you're angry – "
"You bet I'm angry. Two of the people I'm closest to in this galaxy have been lying to
my face for days now. Did you think I
wouldn't have approved? I've been
praying you guys would get together since the first day I saw you two lay eyes
on each other."
Jacen and Tenal Ka could do nothing but stand there and
let Jaina vent her anger. She had every
reason to be upset with them, and Jacen hadn't thought anything could be worse
than the possibility of facing a life sentence in prison, until he had heard
the hurt in his sister's voice.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry Jaina. I really am," he apologized, "we thought we
were protecting you,"
Jaina's eyes widened as a sudden realization struck
her. "Zekk knows too, doesn't he? That's why he's been acting so strange."
"We didn't tell him. He found out by accident," Jacen said in his friend's defense.
"And he didn't tell me?"
"Because I asked him not to. I told you, we didn't want you involved in this whole mess," it
had seemed like a good enough reason at the time, but now Jacen realized how
lame it sounded. Jaina was involved now
anyway, and felt betrayed because of how they had deceived her.
"Do not be mad at Zekk. This is not his fault," Tenal Ka said to her.
"So, was I the last to know?" She felt so stupid for not having figured it out on her own.
"No, Anakin and Tahiri didn't know either," Jacen
replied, but he knew that did little to comfort her.
At that point the guard that had been watching them,
growled, "your time is up," to Tenal Ka and Jaina.
"We will be back," Tenal Ka promised him, stepping as
close to the force field as she dared.
He just nodded, wishing he could just touch her for a
brief moment.
"Don't worry, me and Anakin are already working on a plan
to get you out of here," Jaina assured him, and this time when she spoke, there
was no anger or bitterness in her voice, just genuine concern for her brother.
"Be careful," he cautioned her.
"Hey," Jaina said with a Solo grin on her face, "aren't I
always?"
The guard came over then and ushered them back out into
the waiting area.
The visit from his sister and Tenal Ka had left Jacen
with a renewed sense of hope that maybe things would turn out all right after
all.
"I found it," Anakin Solo announced, picking up the delicate,
almost crystal clear tracking device from Tenal Ka's lizard hide armor.
"So that's how Zeille was able to trace her," said Jaina.
Anakin nodded. "I've heard of near undetectable tracking devices, but never anything this
sophisticated," he remarked.
It had taken him nearly two hours of scanning and
rescanning to locate it, relying heavily on his force senses to help him find
it. To an untrained eye, the person
would have never noticed the device, but solving puzzles was right up Anakin's
alley. He had figured out that for
Zeille to have known exactly where Tenal Ka was at all times, he would've had
to have bugged her clothing. But it
would've been too difficult to bug every piece of clothing she owned, so it
made sense to place the locator on something she always used.
"I should not have been so naïve," Tenal Ka scolded
herself. "All along he suspected
something and I believed his whole innocent act,"
"Some people are just born liars," said Jaina.
The room grew quiet because everyone present knew the
remark had been directed at Zekk.
Jaina had been giving him the cold shoulder since she had
come out from visiting Jacen. Zekk
remembered placing his arm around Jaina's shoulders in an effort to comfort
her, but she had shoved him away, accusing him of knowing what was going on
between Jacen and Tenal Ka all along. He had tried to justify his not telling her by saying he had only
recently found out and that he had given Jacen his word he wouldn't say anything. Jaina didn't listen to any of it, and was
even more furious with him when he said he had done it to keep her from getting
involved, and had stormed out of the jail
That quiet ride back to the Palace was the longest
fifteen minutes of Zekk's life.
"I'm sure those tracking devices are pretty common on
Hapes," said Tahiri, trying to diffuse some of the tension in the room.
Tenal Ka nodded. "But Anakin is right, I have never seen a model like this one before
either."
"Zeille must've paid quite a few credits for it," Zekk
commented.
"Did you talk to your parents?" Jaina asked.
"I did," Tenal Ka had walked into Anakin's room only
moments before his discovery. She had
spent the past few hours with her parents explaining everything. Their initial reactions had not been as
upsetting as Tenal Ka had feared. She
could tell they were disappointed in the dishonest manner Jacen and her had
gone about their relationship. But she
also felt a sense of approval radiating from them in that she had chosen Jacen
over Zeille. Her mother had commented
she had never liked Zeille in the first place, and her father had said he would
try his best to keep Jacen out of prison, but they both knew Ta'a Chume would
fight him on it. Both her parents would
also do their best to make sure their daughter wasn't brought before the Hapan
Court and removed of her title.
Tenal Ka could care less about the title, but if it was
taken from her she would no longer be able to rule the Hapes Cluster one day. It would then likely fall to one of her
grandmother's scheming spies. If that
happened, the entire Hapes Cluster would be doomed.
"Well, what happened?" Jaina prompted her when she did not
continue.
"They said they will try and do whatever they can to help
us,"
"That's it? They
weren't angry with you or anything?" Tahiri said incredulously.
"They were not exactly pleased," she admitted, "but I got
the impression that they approved of my relationship with Jacen. They just wished I had not returned home and
got married so hastily."
"Wow," Anakin remarked, "I hope our parents take the news
about Jacen being in jail and everything else that well."
"What if your parents can't get Jacen out of jail? Zeille has proof of the two of you having an
affair," said Jaina.
"Then I will get him out of there myself," stated Tenal
Ka.
"No, we will get him out of there,"
"I stand corrected, friend Jaina,"
Jaina was shocked to see Tenal Ka give her a small
smile. Jacen must be rubbing off on
her, she thought with a smile of her own.
"Well, then, what are we waiting for? Anakin, can you pull up a map of the jail
Jacen's in?" Said Jaina.
"We should make sure we know the entire layout, as well
as where each guard is stationed," Tenal Ka advised.
Anakin called up the layout of the jail on his holo
projector, along with a map of the sewer system beneath it.
"Good thinking, Anakin," Jaina praised her brother, "if
we come in from the sewer we have a better chance of getting inside unseen."
"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Zekk said in a
low voice beside her.
"Have you got a better one?" She shot at him.
"No, but what happens if you get caught?"
"We won't get caught,"
"How can you be so sure? You've only been in the place once,"
"Look," she said in an annoyed tone, "this is only a
backup plan just in case Tenal Ka's parents can't get Jacen out of there. If you're afraid of getting caught, then
don't come."
"I never said I was scared,"
Jaina ignored him and went back to studying the map up on
the holo projector.
Zekk let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm gonna get some air," then walked out of the room.
"Jaina, my friend," Tenal Ka said to her after Zekk had
left, "you should not be so hard on Zekk. He did not wish to lie to you."
"Well, right now helping my brother is more important
than Zekk's hurt feeling," she replied without looking up from the display.
After a few moments of intense concentration, Jaina got
up from the floor and grabbed her jacket.
"I need to get a few things from the Lightning Rod,"
she told them and then left.
Anakin quirked an eyebrow up at
Tenal Ka. "She isn't going to the ship
for her tools, is she?"
"No, she has something more important she needs to take
care of," Tenal Ka replied.